Soon I Will be Invincible
3.5 stars -- a guilty pleasure for geeks. Grossman's novel skips between the POV of a hero and a villain -- one a novice, the other experienced at trying to take over the world. Ultimately, novels about superheros lack the excitement of comics or films because of the fact that nothing is visual. Grossman wisely skips over boring fight descriptions and gets us in the mind of the characters. The storyline isn't as impressively cliche-twisting as I had hoped. Unfortunately, The Venture Bros. and The Watchmen have both taken care of any real meta-superhero discussion. But this is still a fun book with a few great lines that made me chuckle. Enjoyable and worth a week of your summer.
Visit Me in California: Stories
3.5A fun collection that touches on quirky. The longer stories (er, the more "regular sized" i should say) did more to keep me reading then the many short short pieces. But I'm not a fan of much flash fiction, if that's what this is. Worth checking out if you like short fiction and Greek literature (which is referenced often).
The Zero
I'm going to try not to give anything away -- this book is probably best read if you only know that it's about 9/11 and it's a satire. THE ZERO is fascinating and frustrating, but ultimately satisfying. The conceit, wherein the protagonist Brian Remy suffers from "these gaps [of time]," requires a bit of patience. I'm surprised Jess Walter took the risk and maintains it. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that this requires the same focus as a stream of consciousness novel. In this case, bits are removed but are no less important (where is a regular novel things get skipped because they are non-essential).
I found the momentum waned a bit in places and that the novel may have been a bit too long. But without giving much away, I'd recommend it for anyone interested in 9/11 fiction. Definitely worth a read.
August: Osage County
Tragic and hilarious. The perfect mix of dark humor and real drama -- or at least energized conflict (if that makes sense). It's amazing how the many characters stand apart on the page. Great dialog, some beautiful lines, and satisfying homages to other plays (Long Day's Journey... being the most obvious).
The Dharma Bums
Kerouac really doesn't care about plot as much as discussing various ideas with a mediocre amount of depth. In many ways, this is the story of Japhy more than Ray, but the focus on Ray's various moments of "enlightenment" and no real character arcs for either man left me yearning for something to happen. The initial mountain climbing sequence is done well, to the point that I felt Ray's sadness at giving up and joy at realizing the point of the trek. But after that moment, the rest of the "novel" meanders, celebrating the details of hitchhiking and parties and Buddhism, but without any thread. By the end, I realized I liked Ray, but nothing had happened worth discussing. Most frustrating, Kerouac kills any moment of tension that comes up. His "argument" with Japhy is defused immediately. His visit home lacks any clear elucidation of his relationship to the suburban clan. Ray feels sorry for middle class people, but never really acknowledges why, other then that they, too, suffer.
God Is Dead
fascinating, grim, funny and hard to forget. One of the best short story collections masquerading as a novel I have read. Not every piece is perfect on its own, but as an arc they manage to create a post-God world that is real and frightening without resorting to the same dystopian nonsense we've seen before. A great companion piece to Coupland's Life After God, but more powerful.
I Love You, Beth Cooper (P.S.)
In the end, I was glad I read the novel and will look for Doyle's next release with some anticipation. I hope it's not a sequel but something strange and funny and maybe a bit more satirical.
 - Larry Doyle)
Thank You for Smoking
Good, not great. a light read that never made me laugh out loud, but has some funny moments.
The Commissariat of Enlightenment
At times funny, at times grim, Kalfus's novel about the birth of propaganda in the Soviet state has great moments, particularly in the third section. I found the final chapters particularly well down, especially when Kalfus abandons conventional sentence structure to describe Lenin's stroke.The beginning is a bit uneven, as the novel tries to find the protagonist. Considering most of the novel is about Grishbin/Astapov, the fact that it opens with 3 men on a train who seem to have equal importance is a bit misleading. I realize that Astapov's relationship to those three men is crucial. Also, I feel Stalin and Lenin are not fully developed, nor is the true complexity of Stalin's rise to power given a clear account. Still, the novel does not try to be a recounting of the revolution or the introduction of the worst murderer of the 20th century -- it's all about the role of the image and the death of the word. In that case, Kalfus has done some good things.
The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations
A fascinating look at the Medieval Warming period that includes not only Europe, but just about every part of the world. Fagan presents various examples of how the warming period (which was not a consistent warmth, but a period of cyclical warmth resulting from, among a few things, El Nino/La Nina changes.) The resulting analysis is convincing if not a bit repetative, since most of the areas he describes (Mexico, Peru/Chile, Africa, India & China) all suffer from droughts while Europe and Northern North America flourish (or at least benefit, as in the case of the Norsemen and Inuits who ended up trading with one another).Mixed in with his clearly presented info on climatology is historical information, all backed by Fagan's years and years of research. He does not limit his focus to just weather or just archeology. He blends many factors together to form his final argument.
Which is essentially that we are fucked if all we do is worry about temperature and not drought.
One thing that did nothing for me was Fagan's attempt, at the start of every chapter, to set the scene. Ultimately, each piece is awash in vagaries and simply sets up a general idea of key features of the civilization/tribe/culture that is about to be discussed. I guess it's an attempt to "liven things up" that I didn't need but others might appreciate. Since I only read 1-2 non-fiction books a year, I was more interested in the analyses.
Edited: to fix misspelling of author's last name.
The God Delusion
Dawkins unfortunately can't turn down his snarky tone until the middle of the book, when his very interesting arguments about the biological roots of religious belief begin. While I am already predisposed to his argument, the people he wants to reach aren't going to make it very far into the text thanks to his dismissive prose. I do agree, though, with his defense that researching religion in the depth that his critics seem to demand is unnecessary considering his approach. He does a good job pointing out the logical inconsistencies of religious arguments (and arguments for God); he does a decent job summarizing the problems with Judeo-Christian morality as presented in the holy books. Then again, isn't Dawkins equally upset with Creationists & ID people who fail to study Darwin before making their critiques? I suspect his defense would be that at least he's using reason to determine why god and religion are faulty. Reason without intense research, that is.
I'm not sure Dawkins wants this book to stand by itself. He continually references other works that deal with ideas he admits are tangential. It seems that readers and critics believe Dawkins should be handling everything himself, but he's part of the scientific community, which bases much of it's research on collaborative efforts. Perhaps with that in mind, his research-shortcomings make more sense.
In the end, the book makes compelling arguments against the necessity of religion and bolsters, in my view, the idea that humans are moral beings without outdated texts to guide them. That, if anything, is the most important topic of discussion and not whether there really is a flying spaghetti monster.
I am America (And So Can You!)
Hilarious. Not as hilarious as the Stewart book, but still great. I have to read it in Colbert's voice for it to really work. The chapter on religion has the most laugh-out-loud moments. Great use of marginalia.
 - Peter Grosz, Rob Dubbin, Eric Drydale, Michael Brumm, Allison Silverman, Tom Purcell, Frank Lesser, Laura Krafft, Jay Katsir, Richard Dahm, Glenn Eichler, Peter Gwinn, Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert)
Time's Arrow
The kind of book that bothers some people because the author's efforts are so constant and obvious, but wonderful. I still marvel at Amis's ability to write an entire novel backwards. But I also appreciate his ability to keep the book manageable. It's a book you need to learn to read and once you "get" the language, you don't want to stop. Brilliant.***
Added: I recently re-read this book and it didn't hook itself into my brain like the last times. I'm not sure if I've gotten past the ideas and can't really appreciate it for anything else (the style and ideas are fantastic, but once those have been absorbed, there's not much else).
The Iliad
I've read this a couple of times now and find it more and more compelling. The bickering of the gods is amusing, the rage of achilles is both maddening but also rendered well, the battle scenes are viscously detailed. It's a demanding text, but this translation makes the reading easy, even if the names and events are not.
Pu-239 And Other Russian Fantasies
I read the title story after hearing the HBO (or was it Showtime) movie was really good. The story is pretty good and ends with a great moment. I really like Kalfus's writing, so I'll be sure to finish this off in the near future.
Brutal Imagination
Individually, the poems in the first half ("Brutal Imagination") are not brilliant. Together, however, they create a fantastic arc that transcends the simple "everyone is racist" conclusion that this subject could offer. The Running Man poems were okay. I am curious to read more by Eady, so that in itself is a good sign.
